Dear Secretary General,

The Hungarian Parliament today has finally repealed ‘LexNGO’ from 2017, the law that stigmatized and hindered the work of civil society in Hungary. Worryingly, at the same time it introduced new measures that threaten the work of the NGOs. Responding to today’s development, the Director of Amnesty International Hungary, Dávid Vig, said:  

As the European Union (EU) develops a directive on sustainable corporate governance, this briefing outlines why and how environmental protection must be integrated into companies’ due diligence requirements alongside respect for human rights.

Responding to today’s judgment of the European Court of Human Rights which found that irregularities in the election of judges to the Constitutional Court of Poland had precluded access to a “tribunal established by law”, Amnesty International’s European Institutions Director, Eve Geddie, said:

Ahead of the EU- India Leaders’ meeting on 8 May, Amnesty International is calling on EU leaders to urge India to protect the rights to life and health and to raise the alarm about the crackdown on dissent being carried out by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government.

In response to the US government’s announcement of its support for waiving intellectual property rights for COVID-19 vaccines, Amnesty International’s Eve Geddie, Director of Amnesty International’s EU Office said:

EU leaders meeting in Portugal next weekend will have online talks with Indian Prime Minister Modi. India currently faces a wave of COVID-19 infections and shortages of vaccines and treatments such as oxygen. At the same time, critics of India’s pandemic response are being silenced – including on Twitter and Facebook. This is why human rights must be at the centre of their discussions.

European leaders at the  May 8, 2021 summit with their Indian counterparts should prioritize the deteriorating human rights situation in India, including the right to health, eight organizations said today.

Dear High Representative Borrell,

The European Commission and European Union (EU) Member States continue to ignore growing calls for a patent waiver that would increase global production and availability of COVID-19 vaccines and related equipment. Recently, nearly 400 Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) and of national Parliaments from across the EU signed a joint appeal expressing their unequivocal support for the measure, adding their voice to that of 175 Nobel laureates and former Heads of State and Governments, the Director General of the World Health Organization (WHO), scientists, trade unions, NGOs and the general public.

Dear Ministers, 

A new Action Plan on Human Rights, announced by President Erdogan on 2 March after a two-year long preparation, represents another missed opportunity for the Turkish authorities to display a strong commitment to addressing the root causes of the most crucial problems of Turkey’s human rights situation. The Plan does not include any concrete steps to ensure the independence of the judiciary, with no measures foreseen to remove the executive control over the judiciary including through necessary constitutional changes. It does not foresee any concrete action to prevent politically motivated and punitive pre-trial detention and convictions under overly broad and vague anti-terrorism laws against opposition politicians, political activists, journalists, and human rights defenders solely for peacefully exercising their human rights. Crucially, it does not include any commitment to implement the decisions of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR).